my trip in kansai & nagoya

my trip in Kansai & Nagoya

Hi, I'm planning my trip to Japan from May 3rd to May 10th. Here's the temp. schedule for my trip. Should I get a JR 7 days pass or a Kansai Thur Pass? Please advice.

Day 1 - Osaka
Day 2 - Osaka to Kobe, Nara
Day 3 - Osaka to Kyoto
Day 4 - Osaka to Wakayama
Day 5 - Osaka to Nagoya
Day 6 - Nagoya to Takayama, shirokawago stay a night in Takayama
Day 7 - back from takayama to nagoya and maybe go a short trip to matsuzaka
Day 8 - leave nagoya back to osaka and fly back home town

Please suggest if I need to get a 7 day JR pass or/and 3 days Kansai Thur Pass

Thanks.

Winnie

win1020

over 4 years ago

10091 views

4 posts

Hi Winnie!

A Surutto Kansai pass doesn't cover all of the locations you mention, so the Rail Pass is the best option to compare against the normal ticket option. For a 7 day Japan Rail Pass to be worth it for you you need to spend over ¥28,300 on JR tickets. Lets take a look the ticket prices of your trip from Day 2:

Osaka > Kobe(hyogo): ¥390, (27mins, 33km)

Kobe(hyogo) > Nara: ¥1380, (90mins, 81km)

Nara > Osaka: ¥780, (55mins, 48km)

Osaka > Kyoto: ¥540, (29mins, 42km)

Kyoto > Osaka: ¥1680, (27mins, 42km)

Osaka > Wakayama: ¥2820, (70mins, 79km)

Wakayama > Osaka: ¥1210, (83mins, 72km)

Osaka > Nagoya: ¥6180, (67mins, 190km)

Nagoya > Takayama: ¥5870, (150mins, 166km)

Takayama > Nagoya: ¥5870, (145mins, 166km)

Nagoya > Matsuzaka: ¥5870, (145mins, 166km)

Matsuzaka > Nagoya: ¥5870, (145mins, 166km)

Nagoya > Kansai airport: ¥8270, (114mins, 247km)

TOTAL: ¥46730 for 13 legs

As you can see you'll make a saving of ¥18,430 with a 7 day Japan Rail Pass.

As the Surutto Kansai 3 day is ¥3,800, I think for the first few days I would recommend you to simply purchase individual tickets as you need them (subway and transport from the Airport). You can get to Osaka from Kansai Airport for around ¥1160, and from Day 2 can us the JR Pass for transport between all your main locations. Bus fares and and subway charges per day are likely to come to around ¥500-800, so I think you'll find paying as you go makes most sense here.

Is that convenience to take the JR train from Osaka to Nagoya with our luggage carrying? from Nagoya to kansai airport? We will each have a suitcase tho.

from Takayama to shirokawago is extra pay right? how much will it charge each trip?

Im in HK, is that possible to deliver the JR pass? Where can I order it?

I know it has to exchange the real tkt at tkt office, if I change every day before I get on the train, is that risk for seats? How much time earlier that I need to arrive the station to exchange the tkt?

The JR 7-day pass is valid for 3 months right? if I need to postpone my trip to end up May, still can order it first right?

Do you think my trip schedule is feasible? too tight time?

May I have the name of the station in osaka that take me to Nagoya?

May I have the name the station in Nagoya to Kansai airport? do I need to change train?

Is that convenience to take the JR train from Osaka to Nagoya with our luggage carrying? from Nagoya to kansai airport? We will each have a suitcase tho.

Yes - the Shinkansen has space for suitcases behind the last seats in each carriage where you can stow your luggage. For more information, see our blog post on luggage on the bullet train. For Kansai Airport, you should aim to use the Haruka Express, which has luggage racks for you to use

from Takayama to shirokawago is extra pay right? how much will it charge each trip?

Yes - for the journey from Takayama to Shirakawa you'll need to use the Nohi bus from the Takayama Nohi Bus centre, which is a short walk from the station. At 50 mins, the bus journey is quite short. Please be aware that this bus is not operated by JR and so you will have to buy separate tickets (¥4,300 round trip). You can find timetable information on this bus at the Nohi Bus online english timetable.

Im in HK, is that possible to deliver the JR pass? Where can I order it?

Yes - we deliver to Hong Kong for $19USD.

I know it has to exchange the real tkt at tkt office, if I change every day before I get on the train, is that risk for seats? How much time earlier that I need to arrive the station to exchange the tkt?

You only need to activate or exchange the rail pass once at the start of your trip. After you have done this you can use the Rail Pass to get through ticket barriers and jump on trains. Reserving seats is free with the JR Pass and will be the only reason to visit the ticket office once you have activate your rail pass.

The JR 7-day pass is valid for 3 months right? if I need to postpone my trip to end up May, still can order it first right?

Yes - the 7 day rail pass can be activated anytime up to 3 months from the date of purchase. This means that if you were to order a rail pass today, you would be able to activate it is July the 7th.

Do you think my trip schedule is feasible? too tight time?

It will be a pretty busy trip - but as you'll be based out of Osaka until day 5, I think you'll be able to modulate your plans at this stage depending on how you feel. Because fo this, I think your trip is well structured.